A practical matter:
How does one go about securing domain names cheaply and expediently? Are there any advantages and disadvantages to the different companies offering them, and where does it go from there?
Depends on what you want. You can go to Network Solutions and register. It’s $35 a year if you have a service provider and IP address and $40 just to register and save the name.
Your ISP will tell you what they charge for setting up an IP address for your domain. You can shop around for the best price.
Or register.com or search the board as we have answered it quite extensively before.
Why does it cost money to do this? Does that mean that Network Solutions “owns” the Internet? Why do you send the money to them and not someone else?
Originally, there was only one company that registered domain names. That company still registers domain names:
Network Solutions
http://www.networksolutions.com/
But now that the Internet is becoming more and more a commercial venture, the registration has been open to competition, and many companies can register domain names in the .com, .net, .org domains. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the company that gives someone a license to register domain names. Here is a list of companies that you can use to register a domain name:
The Accredited Registrar Directory
http://www.internic.net/regist.html
The site below, for example,
http://www.totalnic.net/
will register a site at half that price, $35 for two years. (or did last time I checked) I know of one person who has used this site with no problems.
More questions are answered at the Internic site, on the “frequently asked questions” (FAQ) page.
http://www.internic.net/faq.html
Because it costs money to buy and maintain and operate computers to hold a database of all the domain names, who owns them, and what-not.
No.
Because they are the ones who had to spend the money, and are still spending the money, to make this service available to you.
For those who wish to register a domain name, see Domain Name Buyer’s Guide for rankings of registrars and discussion of the fine print and its meaning. Only “top tier” registrars are covered; there are lots of “secondary tier” sites selling domain names that they buy wholesale from the top tier registrars.
There is a great book with a chapter devoved entirely to just this question. I’m at work, so I don’t have the exact title in front of me, but it’s something like, “Poor Richard’s Guide To You Own Web Site”. Do not even think of getting a domain name or web site without reading this book. All will be revealed.
If I’m too far off on the title, I’ll re-post tonight.
Another good tool I’ve mentioned elsewhere
If you are registering a lot of domain names ( like three or more) then definietly go to http://bulkregister.com. You pay a flat fee and then it starts a $19/year to register a name. The more you register the cheaper it gets.
Note that Network Solutions and the other groups mentioned are only “in charge” of assigning .com, .net and .org domains. Other top-level domains are under the control of other organizations. Some of these are very restrictive about handing out new domain names (.edu, .gov and .mil are among these, as well as my “local” TLD, .no); others will give them to anyone who can pay the fee (hard currency only, please).
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Has anybody here had any first hand experience doing this?
Handy, I will also look again for the other threads on the topic, although I didn’t find any the first time (I suppose I didn’t look well enough then.)
I let my ISP do the work the first time. It costs more.
Next time I used Webjump, where you can get a name & 25 megs of web site very easily. They were actually faster than my ISP. Its all free except for registering the name [35 bucks/year, same as anyone else]. You can try them TheThill, webjump.com has very easy links on it.
If you go the cheap route, you might save a few bucks but spend alot of hours later straightening things out.
Most people don’t notice, but if you register a name, you only have a name. You have to put it on the web for it to be a domain name. As it must have a domain.
Also, I think register.com still has a one year register name & a small website deal for 35 bucks. that would rock.